Curation #169 from my Kerouac bookshelf: Last Man Standing...Al Hinkle, interview with Stephen D. Edington

NOTE: THIS IS THE LAST IN MY SERIES OF CURATIONS FROM MY KEROUAC BOOKSHELF.

WE STARTED THIS PROJECT ON FEBRUARY 12, 2018 (CLICK HERE) AND PERSEVERED THROUGH 169 ITEMS. AS WE'VE MENTIONED, THERE ARE OTHER KEROUAC ITEMS ABOUT THE HOUSE -- WHICH WE MAY GET AROUND TO CURATING -- BUT OUR ORIGINAL INTENT WAS TO CURATE WHAT WAS ON MY KEROUAC BOOKSHELF ON FEBRUARY 12, AND WE'VE DONE THAT. AMEN.

Item #169 in my Kerouac bookshelf curation project is a three-fer (it all came in one mailing): 2 signed photographs of Al Hinkle and a Stephen P. Edington interview titled, Last Man Standing...Al Hinkle. 38 pages (no page numbers), the book measures about 5.5" x 8.5" and is in very good condition. It is hand-marked 28/200 and inscribed thus:

Happy Trails
Al Hinkle
In Freedom & Liberty
Dear Rick Thanks so much
for the Books -- I enjoy
two or three Kerouactions
a day. Keep "the beat" going.
Feb 2012

The glossy pics measure about 8" x 10" and, yes, that is Jack Kerouac in one and Neal Cassady in the other.

The provenance of these items is that Al sent them to me after I interviewed him for this blog here, and had sent him a copy of my book, The Beat Handbook: 100 Days of Kerouactions. I note in his inscription of the book that he mentioned my term, Kerouactions! How cool is that?

For those who are not diehard Kerouac fans, Al Hinkle is one of the last living characters represented in On the Road -- hence the book title. He was portrayed as Big Ed Dunkel in On the Road.

This book is a lengthy interview with Stephen D. Edington, whose book we curated here. It also includes another short piece by Edington titled, "Neal and Ike--A Meeting of the Icons," and a short piece by Al titled, "My Friend, Allen Ginsberg: A Short Ride with Al Hinkle."

There's some priceless stuff here. Remember that Al was in the car on that famous 1949 road trip that Kerouac immortalized in On the Road.

I don't know how you'd get your hands on a copy of these items other than contacting Al directly, and I couldn't get alhinkle.com to work just now. Mine aren't for sale (unless you have a lot of dough to part with).



Below is a picture of Shelf #5 (last one!) of my Kerouac bookshelf showing the placement of this item (23rd from the top of the pile) on the day I started curating my collection. In the past, this space has been reserved for "Next Up," but as we said above, this curation project is officially at a stopping point. If you enjoyed this post, there are 168 others that you can read by using the blog archive over on the right-hand side.

Shelf #5 of my Kerouac bookshelf